


I Didn't Want to Be Stuck With You (but now that I am, I might be starting to enjoy it)

by quiet_or_die



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Not Beta Read, Short One Shot, Soulmates, To Be Continued?, can be read as one-sided or not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 11:44:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14715384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet_or_die/pseuds/quiet_or_die
Summary: Sanzo and Kougaiji are college students, roommates, and soulmates . . . and Kou is developing feelings for the prickly blonde. Great, just great. Because that'll go well.





	I Didn't Want to Be Stuck With You (but now that I am, I might be starting to enjoy it)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beccafiend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beccafiend/gifts).



> Really, really shitty attempt at a KouSan story. Basically, I wrote most of this oneshot then the idea died on me. I tacked on an ending and did one edit, and that's it so it's basically a rough draft. . . . I tried? ^-^"
> 
> Sorry Becca! But look, it's a KouSan thing!  
> Someday I will rewrite it and hopefully expand it for you!
> 
> Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me, nor do any of the Saiyuki works.

Kougaiji gets home exhausted from evening classes but still toes his shoes off and lays them neatly to the side then hangs up his bag and coat. The peregrine falcon that followed him in lands on his head and shakes out wet feathers, causing Kou to scowl and try to dislodge it. Succeeding (albeit with a few scratches), the redhead walks into the kitchen cum living room. “Hey, I’m home.”

“I can see that,” Sanzo says sourly, eyes still on his newspaper. The red panda previously curled up on the table chitters angrily and scampers off. Sanzo barely seems to notice.

“Really? Do you have eyes in the back of your head?” Kou replies dryly as he heads for the hot water kettle. Sanzo of course doesn’t deign to reply.

They’ve been living together for half a year at this point—something that neither of them had planned on. Of course, the manifestation of a soul mate never takes anyone’s plans into account.

As soon as Kou turns to get the tea out, the damn falcon swoops down, knocks his mug over, and takes off again. Good riddance. The red head ignores Sanzo’s smirk and acts like nothing happened. Damn soul mate rules.

At some point in everyone’s life, generally during the early teens to early twenties, their soul divides itself and takes the form of an animal. When they meet their soul mate, the soul-animal becomes theirs to look after and if they don’t, well both the soul and the person it came from die.

It’s just Kou’s damn luck that he got stuck with such an obnoxious soulmate.

  

On Friday, Sanzo sequesters himself in his room. This in and of itself is nothing new.

On Saturday, Kou still doesn’t think much of it—Sanzo’s done so before, it’s nothing new. . . . but what _is_ new to Kou is the behavior of Sanzo’s soul, Kirik. The falcon doesn’t terrorize Kou or ignore him to go look out the large window in their living room area, but hunches into itself in Kou’s room and just stares out of the window at the moon. And _stays_ there, without moving until evening. Stays in _his_ room, something that has never happened before. Eventually, Kou tries to coax it elsewhere with food—he gets talons in return. Furious, he lets the damn thing be until hours later when he goes to his room for something and realizes the bird is still there.

For the first time that day, Kou eyes Sanzo’s door, connecting the blonde’s absence with his soul’s strange appearance, even as he realizes that he hasn’t seen Adalfieri, his soul all day either, another never-seen-before occurrence. The red panda generally hangs just in Sanzo’s periphery, and typically is around the blonde’s closed door when Sanzo disappears into his room.

Mind made up, Kougaiji strides to Sanzo’s door decisively and gives it a firm knock.

“Sanzo.”

No answer. Just kicking the damn door in is a serious consideration at this point.

Truthfully, this is worrying him.

Instead, he goes and reads a book in his room, slowly making his way closer to the falcon each time until he’s sitting right next to it. Its wings rise slightly and shake themselves out in a nervous fidget, but for the first time it doesn’t lash out at him; eventually it settles down again.

Kou’s not sure how long they’re there for before Kirik sidles over and hops onto his shoulder. He does his best to act like he hasn’t noticed this uncharacteristic movement.

 

At about midnight, Kougaiji is famished as he hadn’t eaten earlier due to worrying about the sudden strange behavior of Kirik. He murmurs gentle apologizes to the bird as he rises, expecting it to be offended and feeling bad about disturbing it from the meditation of sorts that it seems to have fallen into. More surprising than anything else so far though is how the bird sways at his movement, but then just resettles its weight and stays on his shoulder.

Sanzo is in the living room, sitting on the windowsill and staring at the moon. Nothing Kou’s seen him do before. And the strangest sight of the night is how Adalfieri is nestled under Sanzo’s jaw, curled up tight against him. A shudder goes through Kou, because with the light from the moon behind his silhouette, the already beautiful blonde—because he _is_ beautiful—is breathtaking, and with the manifestation of Kou’s soul cuddled against him like that. . . . The falcon’s wings ruffle uneasily and Kou manages to come to his senses. He can see the tension in Sanzo’s shoulders now.

Kou makes plain rice. They haven’t been shopping yet this week and he’s too tired to do much more besides that and tea. Brewing loose leaf tea carries its own set of steps that soothes him though, so that he always has energy for. He goes back to his room and gets his book, then brings two bowls of rice out, then the teakettle and two cups. He puts a bowl of rice and a mug in easy reach of his roommate, if he so desires, turns on a lamp that glows with a soft yellow light (the dimmest light they have) and settles in to read.

As Sanzo never moves, Kou delves deeper into his studies until his back is so stiff he can hardly straighten it at which point he realizes he has no damn clue what the time is. Inspection reveals it’s three in the morning. Sanzo’s tea and rice are untouched.

“You should at least drink something you know,” Kou comments, inwardly cursing when he realizes that Sanzo’s shoulders are tighter now than they were before he spoke. Not only that, but the falcon who has been so comfortable on his shoulder that Kou even forgot he was there, is now fidgeting. It’s unsettling how Sanzo and his soul seem to realize their actions almost at once, and force themselves into an unnatural stillness that could pass for relaxation if one hasn’t already noticed the tension.

Actually, is Sanzo ever relaxed? He always acts like he has a fucking tree up his ass attitude wise, but Kou’s never consciously noticed the blonde’s body behavior. Now he realizes Sanzo’s jaw is always tense.

And out of nowhere Kougaiji imagines cradling the blonde’s cheeks between his hands, then massaging the tension out of that jaw of his. . . . Sanzo would push him away and yell. Or maybe . . . with Kou’s fingers so close . . . he’d bite instead.

Kou’s never considered biting a turn on, but the mental image of Sanzo’s lips pulled back in a snarl, teeth sinking into flesh, eyes glaring fiercely up at him . . . another shudder goes through him.

And then he realizes Sanzo’s eyes _are_ glaring fiercely at him.

“Mind your own business,” the blonde snarls.

Kou bites back a retort and tries to focus on his book instead. But its only after Sanzo actually does pick up the cup of tea a few minutes later that he can actually pay attention to what he’s reading. Very, very gradually the silence becomes comfortable instead of suffocating. Sanzo eventually picks up a newspaper and looks away from the window, an act that eases the tension in Kou’s shoulders—tension he didn’t even realize was there.

They read quietly for hours before Sanzo rises. His steps are efficient, and his eyes are only focused straight ahead. Kou feels a twinge of annoyance but forces his eyes back to the book and keeps any words he’d say locked behind his teeth.

“Hey,” Sanzo’s voice pulls Kou’s eyes back toward him, where he’s standing at the edge of the room. The blonde seems to struggle internally for a moment. “You’ll flunk your finals if you stay up,” the words are flat and as soon as they’re spoken, the blonde spins on his heel and leaves.

. . . It really is Kou’s damn luck that he’s falling in love an ass, who won’t notice, and won’t care even if he does.


End file.
